


Away from Home

by itfeelslikeaparty



Category: Women's Soccer RPF
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-16
Updated: 2020-12-16
Packaged: 2021-03-10 22:00:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 6,262
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28114287
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/itfeelslikeaparty/pseuds/itfeelslikeaparty
Summary: Tobin Heath and Hope Solo travel to the UK for their college education. Hope finds a special someone and Tobin develops feelings for Christen but is unsure whether to act on them. Alex's boyfriend opens up about his dislike for these relationships, after keeping it held in to respect Alex's friendships. His best-friend is also opposed, but has his sights set on one of the 'clan'.
Relationships: Ashlyn Harris/Ali Krieger, Kelley O'Hara/Hope Solo, Servando Carrasco/Alex Morgan, Tobin Heath/Christen Press
Comments: 1
Kudos: 22





	1. I

**Author's Note:**

> Re-upload of my original (now deleted) work from 2017. This revised version has been on wattpad for a bit but I'm uploading it to archive of our own as, let's be honest, it's just better. 
> 
> This is my first, and remains my only, fanfiction but has been under intense development. Quality over quantity. Enjoy!

Tobin flung her Vans Zelda backpack over her left shoulder. With her snapback securely on her head, she turned 90 degrees and walked down the aisle of the Boeing 787. She smiled thankfully at the cluster of stewardesses as she exited the plane into Heathrow Terminal 3.

Once she was through customs, and had collected her luggage, Tobin would be finding the KCL student designated to take her, and one other, to her shared flat near the college campus.

Tobin made it through customs, without any hiccups, and was just collecting her luggage when something thudded into her leg with quite substantial force.

"Oof, shit! The fuck was that? " Tobin thought of the bruise that might form later.

"Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry." A brunette had suddenly appeared in front of her. "I haven't got used to the four wheels on my suitcase yet, it kinda makes it a bit dangerous. Enhanced movement and me having no control over it!"

"It's fine, honestly. I just need to get outta here." 

"Yeah. Same actually. I'm meant to be finding some British kid by the name of.." The brunette rummaged around in her Nike messenger bag. "...yep, here it is, um... blah, blah,blah... year, Lori Chalupny."

"No shit! I'm meant to be meeting her too!"

"Well there's a coincidence." mumbled the Italian-American, "It's Hope, by the way."

"Um, yeah, I'm Tobin. We ought to get moving."

The two young adults grabbed their belongings and set out to find the mystery 'Lori'.

**

"Right, so neither of you have Oysters?"

"Nope." replied both Tobin and Hope in unison.

"That's going to have to change, but I suppose you could have day passes until we can get that sorted."

Lori went up to a ticket machine and proceeded to order two tickets to get the Americans to their destination.

"Oh, well these are adorable." drawled Hope two minutes later.

"Ew, why are they pink, that is so not gender neutral."

"Jesus Christ, Tobin. Do you actually want to get to the flat or not?"

"Piss off, Hope. I don't recall asking for your opinion," Tobin smirked.

Lori just beamed throughout their bickering. "I think we should be able to go now. We'll need to take the Piccadilly Line, change at South Kensington, onto the District Line, to get to Temple.

"Right, how do you know that off by heart?" exclaims Tobin, "Not all of us have elephant memory, you know!"

"You kind of just learn it after awhile, I've lived in London all my life, anyway," Lori explains quickly.

Hope's face lights up, "So you'll know where all the bars are then?"

"Um..."

"You know, out clubbing, dusk 'til dawn!"

"I don't really go in for that stuff, I mean, I do go out, but my knowledge of that kind of thing is not exactly expansive."

Tobin, meanwhile, is intensely studying the tube map. "So, from Temple, Leicester Square is District Line, change at Embankment to Northern Line. That's where all the movie theatres are, right?"

**

"So, welcome to our humble abode," Lori announces proudly whilst gesticulating wildly, almost sending a collection of Starbucks mugs flying. "I will inform you now, that the fourth of our quartet is not currently present. To be honest, she's probably skipping class right now, but there's no way of finding out where she is because she's one of those people that always have their phones on silent. Anyway, she is called Alex, and she likes to play Monopoly on her own."

This fact earns a scoff from Tobin, and one corner of Hope's mouth moves upwards.

"But," Lori continues, with a straight face, "on a less amusing not, there are some rules."

"Ooh, let me guess!" Hope pleads, "No sex after midnight, no parties on weekdays and..."

"No sleeping with each other!" Tobin chimes in, "'cos that wouldn't be awkward." She adds in a sarcastic tone. "But, you know, only if you're into that kind of thing..."

"Well," Lori looks mildly uncomfortable, "Alex and I decided on 11 pm, and as for parties, I don't think we have enough space."

The two Americans glance around and acknowledge that the student flat just about accommodates four students (at any one time) in the, shall I say, economically sized living room.

"Um, yeah, I guess so?" Hope contributes.

"Anyway, I think you guys should go get settled in, and then we might be able to order some lunch before Alex gets back.

**

The trio was walking along the Strand when Lori's phone pinged (that familiar Facebook Messenger ping) in her back pocket.

Alex -> Chalups : wheres food im @ the flat

Lori -> Lex : were going 2 byrons 4 burgers

: well bring u 1 back

Alex -> Chalups : ok cl whos we

Lori -> Lex : find out later

Alex -> Chalups : fuck u kk cl :)

"So, I ordered burgers from Byron's. They do really good American style burgers."

"Great, I feel like Jesus in that fucking desert for 40 days." Tobin looks to the sky and raises her arms for dramatic effect, "Satan, where are you!"

"Lovely," says Lori joyfully, "I ordered a 'B-Rex', 'Classic', 'Smoky' and 'The B & A'. They do great onion rings as well, so I got two of those, one normal fries and then a bacon and cheese fries."

Hope prods Lori's arm, "Who's paying?" she asks earnestly.

"Oh, it's fine. Lunch is on me, you've just flown in, after all. You can get some rest once we've eaten back at the flat."

"Right, so you bargained on us not being vegetarians." Tobin states with a slight smile.

"Yes, I suppose so. You could always eat the onion rings."

"Nah, I was joking. Wouldn't give up bacon for the world."

**

Tobin, Hope and Lori wander into the apartment to find Alex stretched out on the sofa accompanied by a copy of Emily Brontë's 'Wuthering Heights'.

"What took you so long?" Ice blue eyes move to examine the two new students standing by the door laden with food boxes.

"Well, for starters, walking to Byron and back," Lori replies sardonically.

The eyes glance towards Lori before returning to the brunettes at the door.

"So, you are..."

"Tobin, and she's Hope." Tobin indicates vaguely at Hope with her free hand.

"So, you guys have the food... get the fuck over here now! I'm fucking famished!"

Tobin and Hope look at each other with equally puzzled expressions at this young woman's ability to omit more than your average loud noise in decibels.

The four end up sitting on the floor talking about the best bars, places to avoid and other assorted subjects.


	2. II

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I cannot remember what state this is in, but judging by the line immediately below this note, my profanity had not been reined in as much as I would have liked.

"Rise and shine, fuckers!" Alex shouts as she pulls back the curtains in Hope and Tobin's room.

"Agh! Light! Turn it off!" Hope pulls her duvet over her head.

"Hey, shut up." Tobin mumbles into her pillow, "What time is it?"

"Time for you to get a watch, asshole," Alex replies without hesitation. She leaves the room feeling confident that her 'wake up' mission was successful.

Tobin grabbed her phone from beside her bed. It was only 8 am, she still had time for more sleep. No! She had her first lecture at 9, and she had no clue where she was going. She grabbed some clean clothes and a towel and made her way to the bathroom.

After a quick shower and some freshening up, Tobin left the bathroom clad in her favourite pair of jeans, white with rips at the knees, and a Rolling Stones t-shirt.

Tobin met her flatmates in the kitchen a minute later.

"Sleep well?" asks Lori in her usual optimistic manner.

"Fine, before Bitch filling her face with granola thought it would be so funny to wake us up at some unearthly hour in the morning." Hope replies whilst simultaneously pouring coffee and glaring at Alex.

Alex returns the glare, "Well, if I hadn't woken you guys up, someone would miss their lecture." she waves her spoon in the general direction of Tobin.

"More importantly..." Tobin is interrupted when half of Hope's toasted bagel narrowly misses her face and hits the wall behind her shoulder.

"There is nothing more important than my sleep schedule!" Hope turns her death glare to Tobin. "If I'm to learn anything, I need to be at least half awake!"

"Okay, I think you need to calm down, I was just gonna say that I have no idea where my lecture is and it starts in less than half an hour!"

"Oh, yes! That reminds me. I have maps for you guys. It shows where everything is on campus." Lori goes over to her satchel and brings out two colourful pieces of paper. "I have nothing this morning, so Tobin, I'll take you to your lecture and Alex will take Hope to see the others."

"Who are the others?" Tobin asks, confused,

Alex smiles, "Just the people in the flat below us. You'll meet them later."

**

Alex and Hope were standing outside flat 5 of their building. Alex raised her arm and knocked on the door. Hope could hear footsteps approaching the other side of the door. The door flew open and a smallish, freckle-faced undergraduate stood there grinning.

Hope's eyes met the hazel coloured pair in front of her. The smile on the girl's face grew wider, if that is anatomically possible.

"Hey, I'm Kelley, 'sup Alex!"

"Hi, I thought I'd bring Hope down to meet the rest of the clan, as it were."

"Oh cool, come in. So..." she faced Hope, " You're from the US?"

"Y-yes..." Shit! Why was she stuttering, she'd never been nervous around anyone before.

Kelley continued, completely oblivious, "Awesome, I always wanted to go stateside. Is Disney world as good as they say? What's New York like?"

"Damn, Kel, give her a break! You can ask stuff later."

"Fine." Kelley whines, "So, there's four of us in here. Ali, Ashlyn, Christen and me. By the way, Ali and Ashlyn are totally getting it on! They're not official yet. Don't say I didn't warn you."

Hope looks a little confused by this influx of new information as Kelley rushes off to gather the rest of the group.

"So," Alex turns to Hope, "Kelley is a bit excitable. She can speak a lot more quickly than that, but I think you guys are gonna get on fine."

"Oh, okay, cool." Hope steps into the flat cautiously, expecting Kelley to suddenly appear with an entire notebook of introductory questions. She shudders at the thought.

"Are you cold?" A pleasant voice to her left asks. "I mean, it is the summer."

Hope turns to see the source of the voice, a dark haired 22-year-old with a friendly smile. "No, I'm fine, thanks. Um, who...?"

"'Sup, her name's Ali, I'm Ashlyn." A blonde wearing a snapback backwards interrupted the question.

"Hey!" Ali pushed the blonde playfully, "Give her a chance to speak."

"Fuck off. When you start paying more than me in rent for this flat, I'll let you tell when to speak!" Ashlyn smiled victoriously at Ali whilst putting her arms round her neck.

"I told you, it's painful to watch." Kelley grimaced at the sight of the couple.

"It's not like some of us can't wait for these few years of flat-sharing with you to be over." A dark haired young woman had appeared in the doorway of one of the bedrooms.

"Oh really?" Kelley smirked, "I go out and buy the food when we're out of it, and in case you haven't noticed, there is always a carton in the fridge."

Ali walks over to the fridge, "No milk in here."

"That's 'cos it's on the fucking table, dumbass."

"Oh shit, it is." Ali smiles sheepishly, "You'll have to buy some more soon, though."

Kelley's facial expression changes to look very similar to an angry squirrel. She picks up the nearest available object, in this case, a Collins English Dictionary, and promptly throws it at Ali.

Ali, on the receiving end of the attack, ducks behind the kitchen counter and sees the book fly over her head and hit the milk on the table.

The milk carton proceeds to empty its contents onto the floor.

"Which shithead failed to put the cap back on the milk?" Kelley's voice projects through the kitchen.

"Thank the Lord for Cillit Bang." Ashlyn put her hands together and bowed her head. "Amen."

"Since when were you a woman of the cloth?" Ali dares to stand up from the behind the counter.

Kelley, however, is armed and ready with, luckily for Ali, the paperback version of ' _ Wolf Hall _ ' by Hilary Mantel. The book soars through the empty air and lands, rather messily, in the fruit bowl.

"Fuck you, I was gonna eat those grapes. Now they're all crushed. Although, on the plus side, we could ferment them and start a winery!"

"Have you learnt nothing during your time on this planet?" Kelley retorts.

"Maybe not, but I do spend my time more productively. As in, not making my shared kitchen look like Coventry during WWII!" Ali glares at Kelley.

Alex chips in with an attempt to lighten the mood, "You are so obviously a History major, Ali."

"I'm Christen," The girl near the door moves towards Hope, "Sorry 'bout this, it happens a lot."

"Nah, it's fine. I think I'll get used to it." Hope looks to Kelley, who gave her a wide grin, she turns back to Christen, "I'm Hope."

"Yeah, I guessed. Isn't there another new one?" she said to Alex.

"Yup, but she's at a lecture. She'll be coming with Lori soon."

Ali had by now binned the massacred grapes, after deciding that there was no hope left for them, and had righted the milk carton. Ashlyn was having a heated discussion with Kelley as to why Kelley ought to clean up the milk instead of her.

Kelley's last words were, "You really are a stubborn little prick." before she disappeared to find the cleaning fluid.

**

Tobin and Lori were returning when Tobin decided that she wanted cupcakes. Lori took her to Primrose Bakery in Covent Garden to fulfil her needs.

She bought a box of six, regular cupcakes, including the daily special, 'Cookies & Cream'.

"So, I thought we could go and see a movie on Wednesday."

Tobin looks up from the cupcakes, "Yeah, sure. Who are you planning on bringing?"

"Our flat, the flat below us, and Alex might bring Servando."

"Who's Servando?"

"Just some guy Alex has been dating since last semester. I don't trust him, to be honest."

"He's probably got a secret evil twin." Tobin joked.

"Anyway, we need to get back to the flat before lunchtime, I have a lecture at 1."

"Oops, better rush then." Tobin laughed.

They both quickened their pace and were at the apartment building in no time.

Lori spoke first in the elevator on the way up to the 3rd floor. "Kelley can be tad aggressive but she's put in line by Christen. Ali and Ashlyn are just provocative, you can ignore them."

"I think I might relate to Kelley, what's her major?"

"English Lit, I think."

"No then."

The elevator doors slid open and the two flatmates walked up to the door of flat 5.

Lori knocks gently on the door and it opens seconds later. A pair of beautiful green eyes is focused on Tobin. Tobin, momentarily speechless, became very interested in her Adidas trainers.

Lori breaks the silence. "Hi, Christen. I thought I'd bring Tobin to come meet you guys."

"Um...sorry? Oh, Yeah!" Christen snaps out of her trance. Those eyes, she though, those chocolaty eyes with that twinkly. "Do you want to come in?"

"Um, that is why we're here." Lori gives Christen a confused look.

A slight blush had formed on Christen's cheeks. "Yes, of course. Sorry. We've just had a small crisis with the English Dictionary making unfortunate contact with the milk carton."

"Where the fuck is the Cillit Bang? I honestly can't find anything in this flat. Ever."

Tobin looks up from her shoes at this sudden outburst.

Christen looks apologetic. "That's Kelley, she  _ really  _ doesn't like cleaning... and Ashlyn made her clean up."

"Oh." Tobin walks past Christen and into the flat, but not before making brief eye contact.

The chaos before her cannot be any less like a London street. It is crowded, messy and loud, to say the least.

Tobin sees Alex and mouths 'cupcakes' to her, whilst pointing at the cake box in her hand. Alex's blue eyes signal for Tobin to take the cakes through to the living room.

Unfortunately, Tobin didn't make it to the next room before Kelley saw the box.

"Aha! Cupcakes!" she pointed directly at Tobin and the box. Tobin gulped as the room went into a brief silence before Kelley, Hope, Ali and Ashlyn let out war cries that would put the ancient Britons to shame. These outcries were released at the same time that they all charged towards Tobin.

As Kelley was preparing for her rugby tackle, Tobin threw the box in the air. Instead of the box hitting the floor seconds later, Tobin saw Christen run and grab the box from the air.

However, it didn't take long for Kelley to realise the absence of the box. "Bugger, we lost. Where d'you put 'em?" She eyed Tobin suspiciously. "Baked goods don't just disappear into thin air."

Tobin was in her comfort zone. "Are you threatening me?"

"What if I am?"

"I'll teach you to threaten me!" With this, Tobin lunged at Kelley and shoved her to the floor. "Now, I have some cakes to find if you don't mind me." Tobin got up and smirked, holding out her hand to help Kelley up.

"Hmm, not bad. She's got real fighting spirit." Kelley says to Ashlyn, then turning to face Christen. "Oi, Press! I know you have the cupcakes!"

Christen smiled a full, genuine smile.


	3. III

Lori decides, on Tuesday afternoon, that Tobin and Hope need a tour of some of the sites of London. This includes places such as Hyde Park, Trafalgar Square, the London Eye, Covent Garden, etc.

As no one, apart from Alex and Ashlyn, have lectures, they insist on tagging along too.

Tobin is looking forward to the outing as an opportunity to get to know Christen more. However, unfortunately, Kelley is adamant that she is going to be the tour guide and shall yell "interesting" facts about London over the constant hum of the city's traffic.

Tobin, as she occasionally manages to tune out Kelley's encyclopaedic recitation of London's landmarks, takes every chance she can to get a glimpse of Christen's enchanting greeny-blue eyes.

At around 3 o'clock the group of friends are standing in the endless queue to get onto the London Eye. They've moved approximately one metre in 15 minutes. The girls are eagerly discussing what they'll be able to see from whichever pod they're in. As it is, surprisingly, a nice day with very few clouds and some sunshine, they will be able to see over quite a lot of London from the highest point of the wheel's rotation.

"Maybe we should've waited until we had a morning free or something," Tobin suggested. "It's usually quieter then."

"That's the thing with London, it's never not busy, even in the mornings," Lori replied.

As the group shuffled a few inches further along in the queue, the discussion changed to what they might do in the evening.

Tobin and Hope expressed a wish to visit Leicester Square and a cinema. Tobin was mainly focused on the good eating spots she'd heard about from her cousin who'd lived in London. Although, she moved away 6 months ago to work in Munich, otherwise Tobin would probably be staying with her.

They had planned Wednesday as their cinema night, but no one saw any problem with moving it a day before.

Ali bails as she has a test that she has done almost no work in preparation for. Ashlyn asks to bail too, mumbling something about not wanting Ali to be alone. Everyone else is able to come, with Kelley, as always, being very enthusiastic. Hope is in awe of how much energy and excitement Kelley possesses.

A good hour later (yes, it does actually take that long in real life), the group get into the pod they're sharing with a family of four, two adults and two young children.

The wheel slowly rotates, and the girls watch the ground and all the people as they appear gradually smaller. By the time they've got to the top, London's famous skyline looks magnificent. Look across the river, and the girls can see St Paul's, the Gherkin and other famous landmarks. Look down, and they can see the busy city of London with its bustling population in the streets amongst the heaving traffic.

As it is now just before 5, they decide to head back to their respective apartments and get ready for the cinema and dinner out.

**

Everyone decides to meet in the lobby of their apartment building at 7:30, giving them just over an hour and a half to get ready.

*Tobin, etc. apartment*

In Tobin, Hope, Lori and Alex's apartment, each goes to their room to pick an outfit and change. The corridor becomes quite busy as people pop in and out of their rooms to ask, "Does this work?" and other similar queries, and to make their way to the bathroom to shower. A lot of shouting and banging on doors ensues when the shower is being used for more than the allotted time. This turns or to be about 30 seconds in the eyes of whoever is not currently in the shower.

Tobin eventually decides on a pair of slightly distressed black denim jeans, rolled up at the bottom, a green and blue plaid button down and a simple black and white pair of Adidas superstars to complete her look. She picks up her favourite leather jacket and sits at the island in the kitchen, waiting for the others to appear.

Lori arrives in a pair of mom jeans and a cute cropped sweater, her hair is plaited into a fishtail, courtesy of Alex.

"Hi, ready first I see." Tobin nods in reply. "Alex usually takes the longest to get ready, but it's fine, we've got plenty of time 'til we ought to be downstairs."

"Hey, guys." Hope walks into the kitchen in high-waisted jeans and a crop top. "Before you say anything, Lori, I am bringing my parka so I don't freeze to death." Hope mimics shivering before retrieving her jacket from the coat stand.

The last into the room is Alex who, of course, looks stunning in a dress that is neither too casual nor too smart. She has her jacket in her left hand, phone in her right, she has to carry it due to a lack of pockets.

"Of we go then." Says Lori.

*Christen, etc. apartment*

Kelley and Ashlyn burst through the door, Kelley remembered in the lift that there was one portion of Ben and Jerry's left in the freezer. She made the mistake of saying this out loud and catching Ashlyn's attention. They decided on a race from the lift to see who could get the fridge-freezer first.

Kelley, unfortunately, trips on the misplaced dictionary from earlier, causing her to lag behind Ashlyn who was victorious in obtaining the ice cream.

Kelley proceeds to watch in a sulky silence as Ashlyn ate the ice cream deliberately really slowly in front of her.

Ali and Christen walked into the apartment and viewed the scene, chuckling and the childishness of their two flatmates.

Ali went into the living room part of the apartment and sat down on the sofa, greeted by the huge pile of notes she needed to learn for the test in a few days time.

Kelley managed to snap out of her sulk when Christen said they could buy more ice cream tomorrow.

Both Kelley and Christen went off to their rooms, Kelley shotgunning first shower extremely loudly, as usual. The next hour is filled with loud shouts from Kelley, verbally abusing the bathroom floor after she slips, and then shouting something incoherent, directed at Ashlyn's laughter after she heard the thud and aggressive shouting, both originating from the bathroom.

Kelley and Christen reappear into the main living space of the apartment just over an hour later.

Kelley is wearing a simple pair of ripped jeans, rolled at the bottom, a comfortably sized t-shirt and a pair of black Old Skool Vans.

"Has anyone seen my apartment key?" Kelley shouts. A series of answers in the negative are shouted back at her. She starts rummaging in her backpack but fails to find it.

"Hey, Kelley, we can use mine. Yours will turn up sooner or later." Christen tells her from where she's tying the laces on her shoes. Christen has on her favourite pair of jeans, cut just before the ankle and a pink baggy t-shirt that complements her tanned skin and dark hair perfectly.

The two girls say goodbye to Ali and Ashlyn and leave the apartment, shutting the door behind them.


	4. IV

The six girls meet in the lobby of their apartment building just after 7:30. Alex's flat was there first, sitting on the sofas waiting for Kelley and Christen to arrive. 

Not long later the lift doors *pinged*, and Kelley and Christen stepped out and walked over to meet the others. 

Tobin had been chatting to Hope, facing in the opposite direction to the lift, and when she saw the look in Hope's eyes, who had just seen Kelley, she turned round and fell into a stunned silence at the sight of Christen. Neither Kelley nor Christen was wearing anything particularly fancy, but they still managed to make the jaws of the two Americans drop. Christen looked to Tobin who quickly averted her gaze and suddenly became very interested in a painting on the far wall, behind Christen. 

Kelley, meanwhile, had bounded over to Lori and Alex, glancing slightly in Hope's direction. She first started to pester Lori about which film they were watching, but after she managed to get no answer other than "I don't know yet.", she decided to start asking Alex annoying questions about Servando.

"Is he coming", "Is he bringing anyone with him", "Will this count as a date for you guys", "Are you going to have a bit of an afterparty?" Kelley adds a wink to this last question and grins sheepishly, receiving a death glare from Alex.

"Ugh, you are so immature. Anyway, he's going to meet us where we're having dinner, with a friend. Although, I'm not too sure who the friend is right now." Alex replies.

"Yay, I love surprises!" Kelley says excitedly.

"We'd better be going now, anyway," states Lori, giving Kelley a disapproving look.

**

The group meet Servando and his friend in Leicester Square. Servando introduces himself to Tobin and Hope and then introduces his friend, Chris, to the rest of group. 

Kelley and Chris recognise each other from their maths lectures, but Kelley dislikes Chris because of how he calls people out whenever they get an answer wrong. Chris looks slightly uncomfortable under the hard stare Kelley's giving him, how ever he looks away and proceeds to smirk at the Americans. 

"So, how are you liking London?" he asks Hope.

"Fine, thanks." Hope replies, refraining adding 'before you turned up'. Hope didn't like the way he looked at her and Tobin, deciding that she'll have to get to know him more before making any permanent decisions about his personality. She turns away and suggests that they start walking to Nandos.

** 

The group enter Nandos and sit at a table that has space for eight people. Alex and Servando sit next to each other, and next to them are Lori and Tobin. Tobin is opposite Christen, who has Kelley on her left, Hope then Chris.

Everyone orders and the table is soon buzzing with conversation and lots of laughter. 

Kelley, of course, makes most of the jokes and is naturally very loud, but the rivalry between Kelley and Chris appears as he tries to one-up almost every joke Kelley makes. This, however, tends to ruin the joke and ends up with him looking awkward. He also tries flirting with Tobin and Hope, but as she is at the other end of the table and ignores him. He quickly moves on to Hope. Kelley doesn't know why, but she feels a slight pang of jealousy and annoyance when she hears what Chris is saying and how he eyes Hope, but she is reassured when Hope simply glares at him on return. 

To get everyone into group discussion again, Kelley quickly decides to suggest shots of Nandos' Extra Hot Peri-Peri Sauce. Everyone, apart from Lori, pours the sauce into a glass. Whoever can do the most shots wins. The next several minutes are filled with loud laughter as, one by one, the group are defeated by the hot sauce. It comes down to tie break between Tobin and Chris. Tobin is naturally competitive, and Chris is just kind of a douche, so the tension was high when Kelley had prepared the eight shots (four each, to see who could finish them fastest. Tobin won and Chris sat back defeated, so humiliated at being beaten at shots. He was well known for being one of the quickest at his high school, and he had been determined to keep up his reputation. 

Christen looked at Tobin in awe of her success, clueless as to how she survived. Christen had gone out first. Tobin was downing a huge glass of water. 

"You know," Christen started, "It's better to drink milk when your mouths on fire."

"Hmmm" was the initial reply she got from Tobin who was just finishing her water. "Do you think coke will work?"

"I don't know, maybe?"

"Well anyway, thank God for bottomless drinks."

Christen giggled at this last comment. Seeing her smile made Tobin get butterflies in her stomach. She'd only ever got that feeling with her first crush in high school. Emily was tall with brown hair and she seemed like the world to Tobin. They had been together for a year and a bit, but then Emily went off to uni and left Tobin heartbroken and alone. Every girl Tobin was with from then on was either no strings attached or a bad break up. Tobin needed someone who would really love her and not just leave when it became too difficult to stay together. Someone who would fight for their relationship, not just give up like Emily. 

Tobin caught eye contact with Christen and looked into her eyes, watching as they shifted from blue to green. Tobin felt her heart momentarily stop beating during the moment until she was pulled away by someone speaking loudly at her.

"HELLO, ANYONE IN THERE? EARTH TO TOBIN!" Kelley waved both her hands in front of Tobin's and Christen's faces simultaneously.

Tobin blinked and looked at Kelley. Christen looked confused, like she had just been dreaming.

"Ah, great. You're not hypnotised. We all thought you guys had gone into some kind of trance." 

Christen was nervously fiddling with her necklace, not quite sure what had just happened. She knew she couldn't ignore it though, after spending most of the meal talking to Tobin, after that moment she felt that there was something there.


	5. V

The group, after paying their tab, heads out of the restaurant towards Leicester Square and the cinema.

A debate then ensues as to what film is to be watched. Alex, who has looked up the showings on her phone, is campaigning strongly for 'The Hunt,' placing an emphasis on stimulating entertainment.

Kelley, however, is adamant that she cannot possibly go without seeing 'Mulan,' claiming that the animated version struck a profound note in her childhood.   
Of course, such an argument was met with a scoff from Hope.

"You just can't cope with a good thriller can you? Come on, admit it." she says, a sly smile playing across her lips.

"No. What are you on? Of course not." Kelley retorts quickly and defensively. "I genuinely believe that Mulan's underlying message of autonomous success and its cultural influences are hugely beneficial. More beneficial, at least, to being sat with my eyes shut for 2 hours."

"So you admit it, then! You fell right into that one."

That mischievous look on Hope's face has Kelley completely taken aback. She decides to play this one cool, or at least to try.

"Oh no, you misunderstand me. Shutting my eyes enhances the experience."

"Is everything that comes out your mouth complete bull?"

"I wouldn't be that rash, maybe 95%!" Kelley laughs and looks round to where the rest of their group is walking behind them.

Alex and Servando are walking, hand-in-hand, chatting to Lori, while Chris has placed himself in-between Tobin and Christen, a move which was not, entirely, welcomed. 

"So, you're from across the pond aren't you, Tobin? How's that working out for you? Enjoying London so far?" Chris dominates the conversation.

"Yeah, it's been good so far-"

"And how are you finding England's people?" Chris interrupts her, giving her a wink and a nudge. "Do we live up to the expectation of well-spoken politeness and good humour?" 

"Some of you do..." Tobin responds, looking past Chris and towards the green-eyed brunette on his left.

Christen chuckles and smiles quietly to herself at Tobin's comment, but looking down at the pavement she fails to catch the gaze of brown-eyed American.

"Well, I don't know exactly what you mean by that, but I'll let it slide." Chris says with a slight edge in his voice. "I think you need a bit of loosening up. How about you and me at Eddie's Bar on Saturday?"

Christen looks towards Tobin at this point, seeing an incredulous smirk form across her lips. Something within her changes as she waits for her response.

"Um, well. I hate to disappoint..." Tobin starts, her eyes sharing nothing of the words she speaks. "... but even if I did want to go out with you, I can't." Christen can't help smirking slightly at Tobin's words, but she also feels a sense of relief.

Distracting herself from her thoughts, and cutting off Chris before he can pose more inane questions, she spies the cinema around 10 metres ahead of them.

"Look, we're almost there. Have we decided on a film yet?"

Alex is first to respond.

"I think we're abandoning 'The Hunt' and 'Mulan', and have found a compromise. Serv's family went and saw 'Parasite' recently, and they've said it's definitely worth a watch, so I figure we'll all go watch that. Saves us from splitting up the group."

This diplomatic decision on Alex's part was met with almost unanimous agreement, except for the beginning of a protest from Kelley, which was quickly silenced by a sharp jab of Hope's elbow.

"Ouch!" Kelley exclaims. "Now _that_ was uncalled for."

"Oh, I thing you've had that one coming a while now." Hope retorts with a smile on her face.

Kelley grumbles something under her breath but, instead of responding to Hope's deliberately provocative comment, she acts nonchalant and proceeds into the cinema's lobby.

***

Having got her popcorn and drink, Tobin follows the rest of the group into the cinema, and they all find their way to the block of seats Alex booked them into - that is, four in front, four behind.

Lori joins Christen in the front four, Tobin places herself to the latter's right, and, of course, Chris insists on sitting on Tobin's right. Alex, Servando, Hope and Kelley take their seats in the row behind.

"Right. If you insist on stealing my popcorn, I will make Alex swap seats." Hope lays down this ultimatum whilst playfully chucking a few kernels in Kelley's direction.

"Ok, fine. You win." Kelley responds begrudgingly. "But I'll need compensation."

"Oh, will you now! You're really taking the biscuit."

"What. No. I wanted popcorn." Kelley smirks at her riposte.

"Oh my God. I am so not here for your lame-ass jokes."

"Well, you're stuck with me. Shh, film's starting."

"You're such an irritant."

"Zip it."

Meanwhile, Tobin has just about managed to survive another round of Chris' incessant questioning née attempt at flirtation.

"Dude, can you just be quiet already. Look, the movie's starting." Tobin manages to interject. "Oh, and for the record, Saturday is a no-go."

"Hmm. Well, I guess maybe the week-end after, then?"

"Oh my-"

"Shh."

Tobin turns to her left, her eyes meeting those of the brunette beside her.

"Are you joking! He's been going on for ages. I think he's immune to being turned down." She whispers with frustration.

"Why would you want to... I mean, turn him down?" Christen gulps. Why does she feel nervous? "I mean, He's seems nice enough."

"He's been giving me the Spanish Inquisition practically since we met, for a start."

"He's probably just trying to get to know you." Christen responds. Maybe these chosen words were the right ones, but it doesn't feel like it. She also doesn't know why she's not comfortable with those words.

"Anyway, It's not like I'm interested, you know." Tobin continues. "Best be quiet though, it's started." Tobin turns her head towards the screen.

"Oh." Christen says in a small voice, her eyes lingering on Tobin's profile. After, perhaps, a bit too long, she focuses on the film, but she can't shake Tobin's words from her head.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok so now I've uploaded what was already in existence albeit slightly abridged. More to come but this is it pour le moment.


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